In lieu of a ceremony this year, the 5th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards shared an announcement of the 2020 winners. Kirsten Johnson‘s Dick Johnson is Dead was named Best Documentary Feature while Johnson was recognized in the Best Director category. The only other film to show in more than one category was My Octopus Teacher, which won the awards for Best Cinematography and Best Science/Nature Documentary.
Sam Pollard was also well-represented, however, with a win for his film MLK/FBI as Best Archival Documentary and with Melissa Haizlip being honored with the Best First Documentary Feature award for Mr. Soul! Pollard served as a co-director on the latter film. Two docs by Dawn Porter were also recognized: John Lewis: Good Trouble was named Best Historical/Biographical Documentary and The Way I See It won for Best Score.
As is common with the Critics Choice Association, there were two ties this year: Best Music Documentary was split between Beastie Boys Story and The Go-Go’s; Best Sports Documentary was split between Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes and Athlete A. Similar to last year’s CCDAs, the award for Best Documentary Short went to a film already recognized by the Academy Awards: the Oscar-nominated St. Louis Superman.
Because I am the President of the Documentary Branch of the Critics Choice Association, I won’t share the ballot I submitted for the awards this year. There was some overlap, but I love to see that the wide range of CCA critics democratically chose such an interesting mix of documentaries this year and spread the wealth well considering we had a lot of films represented in the nominees and generally this year has been really strong for docs.
Here is my official statement on this year’s winners via the CCA:
“We couldn’t be more excited about being able to celebrate such a diverse group of films and filmmakers and subjects this year of all years, on the fifth occasion of the CCDAs, and with 2020 being what it is. The world needs this variety of storytelling now more than ever, and all of these documentaries moved us in unique ways. We are proud that we could still support these films and share the best of the best with nonfiction fans. Our only regret is that we couldn’t do so while also honoring the talented artists and their incredible work in person.”
Here is the full list of 2020 Critics Choice Documentary Awards winners, each followed by a video of the acceptance speech(es):
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Dick Johnson is Dead (Netflix)
BEST DIRECTOR
Kirsten Johnson, Dick Johnson is Dead (Netflix)
BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Melissa Haizlip, Mr. SOUL! (Shoes in the Bed Productions)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Horrocks, My Octopus Teacher (Netflix)
BEST EDITING
Lindy Jankura, Alexis Johnson and Alex Keipper, Totally Under Control (Neon)
BEST SCORE
Marco Beltrami, Brandon Roberts, and Buck Sanders, The Way I See It (Focus Features)
BEST NARRATION
David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (Netflix)
David Attenborough, Narrator
David Attenborough, Writer
BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY
MLK/FBI (Field of Vision/IFC Films)
BEST HISTORICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY
John Lewis: Good Trouble (Magnolia Pictures/Participant)
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY (TIE)
Beastie Boys Story (Apple)
and
The Go-Go’s (Showtime)
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
Boys State (Apple)
BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY
My Octopus Teacher (Netflix)
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY (TIE)
Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes (HBO)
and
Athlete A (Netflix)
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
St. Louis Superman (MTV Documentary Films)
(Directors and Producers: Sami Khan and Smriti Mundhra. Producer: Poh Si Teng)
MOST COMPELLING LIVING SUBJECTS OF A DOCUMENTARY (HONOR)
Dr. Rick Bright – Totally Under Control (Neon)
Steven Garza – Boys State (Apple)
The Go-Go’s – The Go-Go’s (Showtime)
Judith Heumann – Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (Netflix)
Dick Johnson – Dick Johnson is Dead (Netflix)
Maggie Nichols, Rachael Denhollander, and Jamie Dantzscher – Athlete A (Netflix)
Fox Rich – Time (Amazon)
Pete Souza – The Way I See It (Focus Features)
Taylor Swift – Miss Americana (Netflix)
Greta Thunberg – I Am Greta (Hulu)
